'Shuddh Desi Romance' collects Rs 27 crore in first four days

Apoorva Lakhia’s remake of yesteryear superhit Zanjeer may have become one of the biggest box office disasters this year. On the other hand, Sushant Singh Rajput and Parineeti Chopra starrer Shuddh Desi Romance has been adjudged a clear winner. According to the trade, while Lakhia had ample opportunity to cash in on the nostalgia of the Amitabh-Jaya Bachchan film, Zanjeer has proved to be a dud.

A still from 'Shuddh Desi Romance'

The film opened to low numbers on Friday and fell further on Saturday. Sunday was as bad as Friday and on Monday, the figures had a downward spiral. The film has approximately collected Rs 11 crore in four days. In the meanwhile, a distributor from Andhra Pradesh declined to make the bilingual film’s collection public, stating it was “faring average”. Maneesh Sharma’s film was far more appealing, especially to the young audiences, collecting Rs 27 crore over four days.

A still from 'Zanjeer'

Trade analyst Amod Mehra says , “Zanjeer was made with a huge budget but it opened to disastrous numbers over the weekend. It is the lowest opening for a big film this year. It would have covered around Rs 12 crore over four days. The film was released across 2,400 screens pan India. It could be tagged as the biggest flop of the year. Shuddh Desi Romance is a fresh tale. Made on a shoestring budget, it had a limited release of just 1,100 screens. Producer Aditya Chopra has a hit on his hand.”

Distributor Suniel Wadhwa says, “ SDR is doing good business -- even on Monday, which was a holiday. It is a profit-making entity for Aditya Chopra. Zanjeer can be termed as the biggest disaster of the year as it can easily give company to RGV ki Aag.”

Exhibitor Akshaye Rathi says, “Unfortunately, Zanjeer has received neither critical acclaim not box office rewards this weekend. Remaking a classic like Amitabh Bachchan’s Zanjeer in itself is a massive challenge and to hope that the audience in the Hindi heartland will warm up to Ram Charan was a shot in the dark.

However, the silver lining here is the business of its Telugu version -- Thoofan, which was very good over the weekend. Shuddh Desi Romance has come into the cinemas like a whiff of fresh air and swept the youth off their feet. The film’s premise enabled it to reach out to the youngsters across big cities as well as small towns.”

According to Rathi, the film is conducting good business in the overseas market as well.